Refrigeration apparatus



y 1939- w. B. ANDERSON 2,159,417

REFRIGERATION APPARATUS Filed May 28 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l 52* n F r r F F H 5 i 8 I a ll I H A, E I l m m. m I i} I ..u ,1 l4 9 M A {M I ,n I! I v 'i ll I 27 24 29 l: H {I A WITNESSES: INVENTOR as t I 2| .WILLIAMBJQNDIR-SON.

' A F 1G 2 at I an;

ATToRN May 23, 1939.

W. B. ANDERSON BEFRI GERAT I ON APPARATUS Filed May 28, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESSES:

I NVENTOR WILLIAM Bflwosnsom ATTORNEY Patented May 23, 1939 UNITED STATES REFRIGERATION APPARATUS William B; Anderson, West Springfield, Man, assignor to Westinghouse Electric 8: Manufacturlng Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania VREISSUED NIB 2 0 1040 Application May as, 1931, Serial No. 145,115

mins.

My invention relates to refrigeration apparatus, and particularly to refrigeration apparatus of the domestic or household type.

It is an object of my invention to improve the appearance of domestic refrigerator cabinets and to provide a novel and improved ensemble of the cabinet and various parts of the operating mech-' anism of the refrigerator.

It is still another object of my invention to provide an improved temperature control device wherein the manually operable. member for changing the setting of the cold control is in a novel, convenient, and readily accessible loca-' tion.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a refrigerator cabinet wherein the refrigerating mechanism is housed in a compartment below the food storage compartment and wherein a novel arrangement of control mechanism is provided which is less expensive to manufacture and is as available and pleasing in appearance as refrigerator cabinets wherein the control mechanism, including the manual adjustment therefor, is disposed within the food storage compartment.

It is still a further object of my invention to provide a refrigerator cabinet wherein the refrigerating mechanism is disposed below the food storage compartment and in which the manually operated cold control adjusting device is concealed except when the refrigerator cabinet door is open and in which the control mechanism is mounted outside of the food storage compart-' ment.

These and other objects are effected by my invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig.- 1 is a diagrammatic view of a refrigerating machine and portions of a cabinet both of a type used in household refrigerators;

Fig. 2 is a sectional perspective view illustrating my invention as applied to the refrigerator cabinet;

F g. 3 is a partial front elevational view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2;

Ii designatesgenerally a refrigerator cabinet having vertical side walls 8 and a vertical front wall 9. The cabinet H forms a food storage compartment l2 having an access opening it at the front thereof and provided with a door It for closing the accessopening. The cabinet II also embodies a lower machinery compartment II in which a condensing unit it, comprising a compressor iI, motor i8, and air cooled condenser ii are disposed. An evaporator'2l is disposed in the food storage compartment l2 for cooling the same, and is connected by suitable conduits to the condensing unit It, in a manner well known in the art. A temperature control switch or cold control, diagrammatically shown at 22, regulates the operation of the condensing unit IS in response to evaporator temperatures through a thermal responsive gas filled tube 23 (Fig. i) also in a manner well understood in the refrigerator art. The setting of the temperature control switch may be varied by the user by means of a manually operable controller 24, shown herein as a relatively large disk, which disk has indicia marked on its perimeter, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the user may determine the temperature setting at a glance by reference to the position of the manually operable disk 24. All of the foregoing apparatus is substantially .embodied in the refrigerators now in general use but I do not intend to be limited to particular arrangements of the parts or to the particular type of condensing unit and control described, except as specifically set forth in the appended claims.

In accordance with my invention, as best shown in Figs. 2 to 5, inclusive, the door It is provided with a flange 25 which overlaps and extends outwardly from the front of the cabinet li a short distance. The machinery compartment i5 is closed at its front, as shown at 20 and a panel member 26 is provided for the closed front. The panel member 26 extends outwardly flush with the door, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the horizontally extending top 21 thereof lying closely adjacent to the bottom 28 of the door and in substantial alignment with the bottom of the food storage compartment H. An aperture 29 is disposed in the top 28 of the panel member 26.

The temperature control device 22 is disposed in the machinery compartment i5, and the manually operable member 24 is so disposed between the closure "and the panel member 28' thatit extends slightly into the aperture 29. The disk 24 is connected to the control device 22 by a shaft 20 extending through an opening 2| in the clowill! be, in ne 1 mm. aperture a the-numeral is substantially centrally located in q 5 the aperture.;;- ;Obvimisly, the disk It isrotatabie' normally-through. the .apermrefl to controise'ttingof the control device :2 .and

the of the evaporator 2|. However, the disk}! is'visible and accessible for operation only whenthe food compartment door It is open,

. andat other times isconceaied bythe panel memher}! for the machinery compartment, and by thedoorlt.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that I have provided refrigeration apparatus-pf im proved appearance, wherein the manually operated temperature control, while readily accessible for inspection and operation,- is well protected from bumps or operation by unauthorised persons. Furthermore, the temperature control device is disposed inthe machinery. compartment, where problems ofmounting or freezing of parts of the control, such as sometimesoccur when the temperature control is'disposed in the food storage compartment are overcome, while the disk 24 is disposed in an accessible position.

While I'have shown my invention in but one form, it willfbe obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as .are specifically set forth in the appended claims. 1

What I claim is:

' 1. In refrigeration apparatus, the combination of a refrigerator cabinet embodying an upper food storage compartment and a lower machinery compartment, an. access doorfor said food storage compartment, said cabinethavlng vertically extending front and side wallsand an intermediatures in the food storage compartment, said manually operated member being concealed behind the front wall of the cabinet beneath the food storage compartment and said intermediate horizontally extending surface having an opening provided therein for affording access to the. adjusting member from above, said manually opdensing'unit-disposed in'the corn-j partmenta control for automatically and stopping the condensing unit so astomain- .tainfa desired'refrigerated temperatureiin g storage compartment, and amanually'op- 'eratedmemberfor adjusting thecontrolsoasto 'obtain maintenance of different desired tempercompartment, said food storage compartment having an access opening therein and a door for closing said access opening, said-cabinet having vertically extending front and side walls and a horizontally extending ledge provided on the front wall of the cabinet below said access door, a refrigerant condensing unit disposed in the machinery compartment, 2. control for automatically regulating the operation of the condensing unit to maintain a desired refrigerated temperature in the food storage compartment, and a manually operated member for adjusting the control so as to obtain maintenance of diflerent desired temperatures in the food storage compartment,

behind the front wall of the cabinet beneath the food storage compartment and said ledge having an opening therein for affording access to the adjusting member from above.

7 WILLIAM B. ANDERSON.

' said manually operated member being concealed 

